This is blog entry two hundred, one hundred and ninety-five of which have been posted. Four sit as drafts, a sort of holding pattern for the day I need them. One - in what can only be described as a fit of blatant presumption - was a private gift to a friend. What follows is a retrospective, a chance for me to revisit some of the posts that are dear to my heart.

My first entry posted June 24, 2009 announced Bikecopblog and requested "back-up". I got four hits, which were probably all me checking punctuation and spelling. Not an especially fabulous start.

I wrote sporadically, only really getting my sea legs in 2011. By then I'd found a voice, and gotten comfortable with being read. That is harder than I thought it would be.

Vacations.... The cruises, the trips to Florida, the many opportunities to get on a plane and fly somewhere, dear wife at my side. If I can't be a sportswriter in my next life, please God let me write for a travel company.

I have been most touched, beyond my meager efforts to thank you, by the number of readers who have visited when I write about family members. Within the last three years we've lost my dad and my mother-in-law. Our children have had children, one under the most trying of circumstances. I've paid out-of-town visits. Through these intensely personal moments Bikecopblog readers have honored me.

I don't have a favorite. Some are fairly well written. Others.... I'm not sure what I was talking about. There was one - written after two West Webster (NY) firefighters were murdered - that garnered a simple comment from someone named Tracie. I still tear up to read her response.

I know this has been self-indulgent. Thank you for reading, not just this but the others as well. Writers write so readers can read. I am blessed that so many people have come along for this most enjoyable journey.